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Euro 2012: England v France

Nice one England. You had me as nervous as ever in a major tournament, I didn’t enjoy the closing minutes but you did a fine job.

I think we’re in really safe hands with Roy Hodgson and I’d be really surprised if we don’t make it through the group now. The team played calmly and well together but probably lacked the quality to see us look really dangerous in this tournament. Oxlade-Chamberlain made an energetic innocent presence and there were some respectable performance by most of the team – Johnson, Parker and Welbeck stood out for me.

I think the result is outstanding to be fair, considering Hodgson has only been with the team six weeks and some of the best of the average crop of players we have were not there. It’s noteworthy to look at the quality of the team that lost to France in the respective fixture in 2004 – David James, Gary Neville, Ledley King, Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole, David Beckham, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Paul Scholes, Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen. We could have done with some of that quality in the team.

I think with a ref who’d allow us to build up some pressure and with Rooney’s world class quality we’d have won it. Wish I could say I was looking forward to the Sweden match but at least I’m expecting a win now.